Background:

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

The mandate and functions of UN Women call for the promotion of organizational and UN system accountability on gender equality through evaluation, strengthening evaluation capacities and learning from evaluation, and developing systems to measure the results and impact of UN Women with its enhanced role at country, regional and global levels. The purpose and role of evaluation in UN Women is to enhance accountability, inform decision-making and contribute to learning on the best ways to achieve women’s empowerment and gender equality through operational and normative work.

The Independent Evaluation Office (EO) of the Independent Evaluation, Audit and Investigations Services (IEAIS) serves as the custodian of the evaluation function in line with United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) Norms and Standards. The Evaluation Office deploys quantitative and qualitative approaches to evaluate transformative changes in gender equality and human rights and UN Women’s contribution therein. It undertakes corporate evaluations and promotes their use at decision making levels; supports decentralized evaluations for improved programming and evidence generation on what works for gender equality; supports evaluation capacity development within the organization and of regional and country partners, and promotes coordination with the UN system on joint evaluation of gender equality and the inclusion of gender in system wide evaluation. In addition, in the framework of the UN Women regional and country level work, decentralized evaluation function and capacity is strengthened and supported by regional level evaluation specialists based in regional offices.

Under the supervision of the Chief of Evaluation, the Evaluation Specialist will lead, and support IES-led corporate, institutional and thematic evaluations, promote the use of evaluations findings, collaborate with UN and other evaluation partners, as well as lead technical support to knowledge management and evaluation use.

Key Functions and Accountabilities:

1. Conduct and/or support impartial and independent evaluations meeting the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) professional standards:

• Lead and support evaluations, promoting stakeholder ownership and learning, alignment with country evaluation systems and partners participation;
• Ensure high professional standards in line with UN Women Evaluation Policy and UN Evaluation Norms & Standards are applied;
• Apply evaluation quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis tools, including impact evaluation and contribution analysis techniques and approaches
• Ensure effective use of resources allocated to relevant evaluation activities

2. Ensure that the findings and recommendations of evaluations are followed up:

• Prepare reports and briefing materials that can be shared with stakeholders on findings and recommendations of evaluations;
• Organize meetings, workshops and other discussion fora to contribute to knowledge management;
• Hold meetings with project / programme managers to ensure that evaluation results are taken into account in project design, implementation and appraisal;
• Liaise with project / programme managers on recommendations and monitor follow up on evaluations.

3. Lead technical support to knowledge management and evaluation use:

• Lead the implementation of the evaluation use, dissemination, and knowledge management strategy;
• Keep abreast of developments in the area of evaluation, exploring innovative approaches in the area of gender equality and women’s empowerment;
• Share evaluative information in internal and external communities of practice and evaluation platforms;
• Provide advice/information/guidance to project/ programme managers on evaluation use;
• Contribute to the development of methodologies, and to the review of guidelines, systems, procedures and tools related to evaluation use and knowledge management.

4. Promote UN coordination on evaluation that is gender responsive.

• Collaborate with other UN evaluation units on joint evaluation initiatives;
• Participate in United Nations Evaluation Group taskforces and contribute to the inclusion of gender equality dimensions in system-wide evaluation activities;
• Collaborate with professional evaluation bodies in the area of gender responsive evaluation.

5. The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organisation.

Competencies :

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
• Accountability;
• Creative Problem Solving;
• Effective Communication;
• Inclusive Collaboration;
• Stakeholder Engagement;
• Leading by Example.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework:

Functional Competencies:

• Strong technical knowledge of the different components of evaluation, including evaluation design, data collection and analysis and reporting;
• Substantive knowledge of gender-responsive evaluation, respective methodological approaches, including impact and contribution analysis, and demonstrated knowledge of human rights-based approach;
• Ability to conduct institutional and thematic evaluations;
• Ability to synthesize evaluative information and to write clear, concise and logical evaluation reports;
• Broad and in-depth knowledge in social development issues particularly those pertinent to UN Women strategic priorities on gender issues and women’s rights;
• Ability to plan and manage tasks and participate in the supervision of evaluation teams;
• Good knowledge of Results-Based Management principles and approaches.

Recruitment Qualifications:

Education and Certification:

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or equivalent) in evaluation or relevant social science or related field is required.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• A project/programme management certification (such as PMP®, PRINCE2®, or MSP®) would be an added advantage.

Experience:

• A minimum of 5 years professional experience in evaluation preferably in the normative, development, and/or humanitarian context;
• Proven hands-on experience in leading or conducting evaluations is required;
• Experience in gender equality analytical work and programming, and current development issues is desirable;
• Experience working in an international organization, or similar complex organization, is desirable.
• Experience in evaluation use and knowledge management is required.
• Field experience is desirable.
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems is required.
• Experience in the use of a modern web-based ERP System, preferably Oracle Cloud, is desirable.

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of another official UN language is desirable (French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish).

Statements :

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women”s empowerment.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)

Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.